Research on the New Testament has to open up new perspectives on an “old”, long-studied text. New insights can best be gained by “contextualizing the New Testament”, i.e. by reading it on the basis of a comprehensive approach to its original literary, religious, social and material environment within early Judaism and the ancient world. Currently, the Gospels of Matthew and John are in my particular focus.

In addition, the question of how to correlate texts and material culture in order to reconstruct ancient Jewish and early Christian life is of pivotal interest to me. I follow this topic in several different fields: ancient Jewish and Christian burial culture, Galilean village culture, the Samaritans and Qumran in the context of the Dead Sea region.

Since 2007, archaeological explorations at the Hellenistic-Byzantine village site of Horvat Kur and its surroundings have especially been the focus of my research. In cooperation with colleagues from Leiden University Faculty of Archaeology and an international team of colleagues and volunteers under the auspices of Kinneret Regional Project (www.kinneret-excavations.org) new data are produced and interpreted about the development of rural Galilee at the time of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity.

Extensive archaeological training and fieldwork as member of excavation teams to Callirhoe/Jordan (1986, German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in the Holy Land), Petra/Jordan (1992, Naturhistorische Gesellschaft Nuremberg) as volunteer.

Zangenberg J.K. (2013), From the Galilean Jesus to the Galilean Silence. Earliest Christianity in the Galilee until the 4th Century C.E.. In: Schröter J., Rothschild C.K. (Eds.) The Rise and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries C.E.. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 75-108. ('refereed' congresbijdrage)

Zangenberg J.K. (2012), The Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim. Observations on the Results of 20 Years of Excavation. In: Kamlah J., Michelau H. (Eds.) Temple Building and Temple Cult. Architecture and Cultic Paraphernalia of Temples in the Levant (2. - 1. Mill. B.C.E.). Proceedings of a Conference on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at the University of Tübingen (28 - 30 May, 2010). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 399-418. ('non-refereed' congresbijdrage)

Zangenberg J.K. (2008), „Buried According to the Customs of the Jews”. John 19,40 in its Material and Literary Context. In: Belle G. van (Ed.) The Death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense LIV. Leuven. 873-894. (boekdeel)

Sandt H.W.M. van de & Zangenberg J.K. (2008), Matthew, James and the Didache. Three Related Documents in their Jewish and Christian Contex. Leiden: Brill. (boek)

Zangenberg J.K. (2013), From the Galilean Jesus to the Galilean Silence. Earliest Christianity in the Galilee until the 4th Century C.E.. In: Schröter J., Rothschild C.K. (Eds.) The Rise and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries C.E.. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 75-108. ('refereed' congresbijdrage)

Zangenberg J.K. (2012), The Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim. Observations on the Results of 20 Years of Excavation. In: Kamlah J., Michelau H. (Eds.) Temple Building and Temple Cult. Architecture and Cultic Paraphernalia of Temples in the Levant (2. - 1. Mill. B.C.E.). Proceedings of a Conference on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at the University of Tübingen (28 - 30 May, 2010). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 399-418. ('non-refereed' congresbijdrage)

Zangenberg J.K. (2008), „Buried According to the Customs of the Jews”. John 19,40 in its Material and Literary Context. In: Belle G. van (Ed.) The Death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense LIV. Leuven. 873-894. (boekdeel)

Zangenberg J.K. (2013), From the Galilean Jesus to the Galilean Silence. Earliest Christianity in the Galilee until the 4th Century C.E.. In: Schröter J., Rothschild C.K. (Eds.) The Rise and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries C.E.. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 75-108. ('refereed' congresbijdrage)

Zangenberg J.K. (2012), The Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim. Observations on the Results of 20 Years of Excavation. In: Kamlah J., Michelau H. (Eds.) Temple Building and Temple Cult. Architecture and Cultic Paraphernalia of Temples in the Levant (2. - 1. Mill. B.C.E.). Proceedings of a Conference on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at the University of Tübingen (28 - 30 May, 2010). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 399-418. ('non-refereed' congresbijdrage)

Zangenberg J.K. (2008), „Buried According to the Customs of the Jews”. John 19,40 in its Material and Literary Context. In: Belle G. van (Ed.) The Death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense LIV. Leuven. 873-894. (boekdeel)

Sandt H.W.M. van de & Zangenberg J.K. (2008), Matthew, James and the Didache. Three Related Documents in their Jewish and Christian Contex. Leiden: Brill. (boek)

Zangenberg J.K. (2013), From the Galilean Jesus to the Galilean Silence. Earliest Christianity in the Galilee until the 4th Century C.E.. In: Schröter J., Rothschild C.K. (Eds.) The Rise and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries C.E.. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 75-108. ('refereed' congresbijdrage)

Zangenberg J.K. (2012), The Sanctuary on Mount Gerizim. Observations on the Results of 20 Years of Excavation. In: Kamlah J., Michelau H. (Eds.) Temple Building and Temple Cult. Architecture and Cultic Paraphernalia of Temples in the Levant (2. - 1. Mill. B.C.E.). Proceedings of a Conference on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Institute of Biblical Archaeology at the University of Tübingen (28 - 30 May, 2010). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 399-418. ('non-refereed' congresbijdrage)

Zangenberg J.K. (2008), „Buried According to the Customs of the Jews”. John 19,40 in its Material and Literary Context. In: Belle G. van (Ed.) The Death of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel. Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense LIV. Leuven. 873-894. (boekdeel)

Sandt H.W.M. van de & Zangenberg J.K. (2008), Matthew, James and the Didache. Three Related Documents in their Jewish and Christian Contex. Leiden: Brill. (boek)